New Islamic criminal laws took effect in Brunei on Wednesday that make gay sex and adultery punishable by stoning offenders to death. The laws have triggered an outcry from countries, rights groups and celebrities far beyond the tiny Southeast Asian nation’s shores. The penalties were provided for under new sections of Brunei’s Shariah Penal Code. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah instituted the code in 2014 to bolster the influence of Islam in the oil-rich monarchy of around 430,000 people, two-thirds of whom are Muslim. Even before 2014, homosexuality was already punishable in Brunei by a jail term of up to 10 years. But under the new laws – which apply to children and foreigners, even if they are not Muslim – those found guilty of gay sex can be stoned to death or whipped. Adulterers risk death by stoning too, while thieves face amputation of a right hand on their first offense and a left foot on their second.